Career Summary

MLB Statistics

Historical (past-seasons) WARP is now based on DRA..
cFIP and DRA are not available on a by-team basis and display as zeroes(0). See TOT line for season totals of these stats.Multiple stints are are currently shown —Click to hide.

YEAR

Team

Lg

G

GS

IP

W

L

SV

H

BB

SO

HR

oppTAv

PPF

H/9

BB/9

HR/9

K/9

GB%

BABIP

TAv

WHIP

FIP

ERA

cFIP

DRA

DRA-

WARP

1999

MON

MLB

51

0

55.3

2

4

0

54

25

27

5

.258

98

8.8

4.1

0.8

4.4

47%

.266

.255

1.43

4.74

2.93

113

5.80

114.6

-0.1

2000

MON

MLB

29

0

30.0

1

1

0

27

12

24

3

.262

95

8.1

3.6

0.9

7.2

39%

.282

.239

1.30

4.16

6.00

109

5.65

110.9

0.0

2001

MON

MLB

53

0

49.7

1

3

0

51

18

31

9

.257

98

9.2

3.3

1.6

5.6

46%

.275

.269

1.39

5.26

5.26

110

5.90

120.6

-0.3

2002

LAN

MLB

43

0

60.7

1

3

0

45

27

49

4

.253

95

6.7

4.0

0.6

7.3

47%

.236

.232

1.19

3.55

4.15

99

5.23

108.5

0.0

2003

LAN

MLB

76

0

105.0

6

3

1

78

26

99

7

.259

93

6.7

2.2

0.6

8.5

49%

.256

.197

0.99

2.73

1.97

80

3.73

87.1

1.9

2004

FLO

0

26

0

33.7

1

4

3

24

10

33

4

.266

90

6.4

2.7

1.1

8.8

44%

.235

.207

1.01

3.61

4.81

0

0.00

90.9

0.0

2004

LAN

0

52

0

63.0

8

4

1

51

27

52

4

.261

95

7.3

3.9

0.6

7.4

51%

.270

.219

1.24

3.51

2.14

0

0.00

100.6

0.0

2005

FLO

MLB

56

0

67.0

2

2

2

65

32

60

5

.261

93

8.7

4.3

0.7

8.1

42%

.308

.276

1.45

3.65

4.70

98

5.04

112.2

0.3

2006

CLE

0

34

0

37.7

1

3

0

45

19

27

9

.256

109

10.8

4.5

2.2

6.5

30%

.305

.300

1.70

6.38

6.21

0

0.00

122.9

0.0

2006

NYN

0

18

0

18.0

3

0

0

10

5

19

2

.269

89

5.0

2.5

1.0

9.5

48%

.190

.176

0.83

3.28

1.00

0

0.00

111.5

0.0

2007

NYN

MLB

52

0

59.3

2

2

0

63

18

47

8

.267

100

9.6

2.7

1.2

7.1

45%

.296

.251

1.37

4.36

5.76

98

5.12

107.7

0.2

2008

MIL

MLB

58

0

57.0

5

6

1

52

28

50

7

.258

100

8.2

4.4

1.1

7.9

46%

.283

.247

1.40

4.42

4.11

99

4.50

102.7

0.5

2009

LAN

MLB

61

0

65.3

3

4

0

53

24

39

6

.255

89

7.3

3.3

0.8

5.4

39%

.236

.240

1.18

4.39

3.44

119

6.23

0.0

-0.7

2010

SFN

MLB

56

0

54.0

1

3

1

49

22

38

4

.266

89

8.2

3.7

0.7

6.3

39%

.274

.264

1.31

3.88

4.33

112

5.23

112.8

-0.2

2011

SFN

MLB

52

0

80.3

2

2

1

71

30

77

10

.251

92

8.0

3.4

1.1

8.6

42%

.285

.252

1.26

3.89

3.81

103

4.81

112.3

-0.1

2012

SFN

MLB

26

0

20.7

0

1

0

24

8

24

3

.259

101

10.5

3.5

1.3

10.5

37%

.389

.322

1.55

4.15

5.23

96

4.06

100.7

0.2

2004

TOT

MLB

78

0

96.7

9

8

4

75

37

85

8

.263

94

7.0

3.4

0.7

7.9

49%

.259

.215

1.16

3.54

3.07

88

4.57

97.2

1.1

2006

TOT

MLB

52

0

55.7

4

3

0

55

24

46

11

.260

102

8.9

3.9

1.8

7.4

35%

.275

.265

1.42

5.37

4.53

107

5.70

119.2

0.0

Career

MLB

743

0

856.7

39

45

10

762

331

696

90

.259

95

8.0

3.5

0.9

7.3

44%

.273

.245

1.28

4.02

3.94

101

5.03

107.5

3.0

Statistics for All Levels

'opp' stats - Quality of opponents faced - have been moved and are available only as OPP_QUAL in the Statistics reports now.Minor league stats are currently shown —Click to hide.

Previous Year Preseason Upside By Year

Yr Proj

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

PEAK 5

2015

5.1

1.4

1.2

7.7

BP Annual Player Comments

Year

Comment

2013

It's probably safe to say it was a wise move shifting Mota from shortstop to pitcher in the minors, as he's stuck around the majors for over a decade. Last year was a tough one for Mota. He served a 100-game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance, Clenbuterol. It was Mota's second drug-related suspension, and he claimed it was the result of taking a children's cough syrup. A third failed drug test would result in a lifetime ban, but that might be a moot point. Mota's fastball velocity has been sliding for years, and he may have reached the end of the line.

2012

Mota pitched in the lowest average leverage of his career in 2011, but that disguises how important he was as the Giants' designated rubber arm. Thrice he was asked to throw more than 50 pitches in a game; seven times he went at least three innings, with a 1.46 ERA in those outings. There's a vast difference between being a team's mop-up man, as Mota had been at a series of stops since Paul DePodesta traded him away from the Dodgers in 2004, and being a team's long-man. He has now thrown more innings without a start than any active pitcher; only Mariano Rivera and Arthur Rhodes have thrown more relief innings.

2011

Mota is like that old shirt you can’t quite bring yourself to toss out. It’s ugly, stained, filled with holes, doesn’t fit right, you can’t really wear it out without looking unwashed, and your spouse hates it, but it sufficiently clothes you, you have to wear something when doing laundry or mowing the lawn, and every now and again you begin to think it would look cool in a thrift-shop-chic kind of way. You’re wrong, of course, but you keep putting it on. The Giants brought Mota to camp as a non-roster invitee, got suckered into bringing him north, and were briefly rewarded by a hot start, but things got ugly thereafter and he was a net negative per WXRL. Naturally, the Giants signed him to another minor-league contract, but while Mota is never quite bad enough to get thrown out, they really shouldn’t wear him in public.

2010

After a four-and-a-half-year walkabout, Mota returned to the Dodgers still able to pump his fastball into the mid-90s, and still maddeningly inconsistent. He began the year as part of the arson squad before the correction of a mechanical flaw enabled him to put the fire out. From May 22 through August 2—a span of 36 1/3 IP—he dominated, yielding a 0.50 ERA while holding hitters to a .143 average. Perhaps distracted by success, he apparently neglected personal hygiene; an ingrown toenail cost him half of September, and he was too rusty to make the postseason roster. Those hoping for a continued revival should note that his low BABIP (.244), high rate of allowing inherited runners to score (17 out of 38), and career-worst strikeout rate don't bode well.

2009

Acquired from the Mets for the similarly unpopular Johnny Estrada, Mota regained some of his former effectiveness thanks to a mechanical tweak: bullpen coach Bill Castro noted he had resorted to hunching over during his delivery, causing his pitches to flatten out. The results of the correction were compelling, save for a five-week stretch prior to the All-Star break in which Mota resorted to his old habits and was bombed for an 11.81 ERA while allowing five homers in 10 2/3 innings; over the rest of the year he put up a 2.43 ERA while allowing just two homers. Whether he can maintain consistency across a full season is anyone’s guess, but as long as he has that mid-90s fastball, somebody will pay to find out.

2008

Mota missed the first two months of the season while serving a suspension for performance enhancing substances. When he returned he wasn't very good, but he's big and throws hard and usually throws strikes. This combination proved too big a temptation for Willie Randolph to resist, and he kept going back to Mota looking for results that ultimately proved to be chimerical. The impact on the season was large-when talking about the team's collapse, Randolph put the blame squarely on the players rather than himself, but his handling of Mota makes him just as culpable. The Brewers too have heeded Mota's siren song, shipping Johnny Estrada to the Mets for him. They might even let him set up for Eric Gagne. They shouldn't; Mota may be a heck of a thrower, but as a pitcher he's marginal.

2007

After a rough patch with the Indians, Mota turned his season around in New York. Apparently performance-enhancing drugs had something to do with it, as he`s been suspended for the first 50 games of the 2007 season. Minaya decided to make it a paid vacation, re-signing Mota to a two-year, $5-million dollar contract. It was Dwight Gooden`s misfortune not to have this kind of forgiving enabler in the front office in the mid-nineties.

2006

Injuries and inconsistency cost Mota the closer`s job in the early going, which is why Mota has a one-year contract from the Red Sox and Todd Jones got two from the Tigers. Mota`s season was even worse than it looked; his Fair RA was 5.56. It`s unlikely that he will ever again approach the Superman numbers of his Dodgers years, but if health permits he might do some league-average relief work.

2005

Like Lo Duca, Mota was a bit of a disappointment after being acquired, although that was largely due to pitching in bad luck; his 4.81 ERA belied his improved post-trade peripherals. Mota is not likely to match his 2002-03 run again, but he'll have more fantasy value in 2005, as Jack McKeon has named him the closer. Think Octavio Dotel coming off of '01-'02, or maybe Duane Ward circa 1992. He's not young.

2004

In last year's book we said the following about Mota: "A converted shortstop, the Dodgers can always hope he's a late bloomer." Boy, did Mota bloom. He was among the best relievers in the National League in 2003, posting an ERA of 1.97 over 105 innings of work. Yes, this came virtually out of nowhere, but there are indicators to suggest that this wasn't a fluke: Mota's peripherals were outstanding, both at home and on the road, for instance. PECOTA thinks he'll take a bit of a step back, but we think the improvement is real. He's a taller, slightly older version of Octavio Dotel. Expect him to pitch that way going forward.

2003

Acquired last March with Wilkin Ruan for Matt Herges and Jorge Nunez, a trade that helped no one except a few real estate agents. Like Billy Koch, Mota’s main pitch is a hard fastball that’s dead straight. Like Koch, he walks too many hitters. Unlike Koch, Mota hasn’t posted great strikeout totals in any of his four big league seasons. He also hasn’t shown any consistent off-speed pitches in his arsenal. A converted shortstop, the Dodgers can always hope he’s a late bloomer. If not, they’ve at least got a shotblocker for their intramural hoops team.

2002

Mota was squarely in the running for the soon-to-be vacant closer’s job before rotator-cuff tendinitis struck in early July. He threw less than ten innings in the final three months, yet nearly doubled what had been a tidy 2.70 ERA. The Expos believe that a restful winter will take care of his ailing shoulder. Mota still has good command of only one pitch, but it’s flaming high-90s gas and will earn him some save opportunities this season.

2001

Guillermo Mota’s fastball gets rave reviews, but it lacks movement, and, as an ex-shortstop, he’s still acquiring pitching instincts. Because of some past elbow problems he's had, I’d hold off trying to teach him a curve or slider. Maybe a change-up, maybe a forkball. Once he adds a second pitch and learns when and how to use it, he could be an effective setup man.

2000

Mota is the latest example of the trend of turning position players into pitchers, and potentially the best of them. Alou reserved him for mop-up duty, and he still has a lot to learn about setting hitters up, but doing this well on talent and very little experience is impressive. While he does have a good fastball, it remains to be seen whether it just isn’t the 98 mph heater that was advertised, or whether the elbow problems he struggled with all summer kept him from throwing it. Offseason surgery to remove a bone chip shouldn’t keep him out of camp, and he should be poised for a big year as a setup man.

1999

Here's a story: Mota was a shortstop in the Mets organization who hit like Rey Ordonez. Realizing they already had Rey Ordonez, the Mets left him eligible for the Rule 5 draft after '96. The Expos took him, made him a pitcher, and voila! he's throwing gas with great control. He missed some time this year after surgery, and moved to the bullpen to reduce the strain on his arm. The Expos see him moving up as a reliever, but hope he might return to the rotation a few years down the road. A great sleeper.

BP Chats

How exactly can the Giants legitimately say that Melky Cabrera isn't worthy of a spot on the team when they keep corpses like Aubrey Huff and Guillermo Mota on the roster? Don't you want to put the best roster possible on a World Series roster? While Melky hasn't hit MLB-level pitching in months, Huff hasn't hit it in years.(jlarsen from chicago)

I thought the Melky decision was staggeringly wrong when it was originally made. Then I saw Mike Ferrin's piece on players coming back from long layoffs.

http://bit.ly/RralCb

I was shocked by the results, to be honest. Add in the inability to play high-level rehab games and you could argue Melky would be even worse off (though perhaps the lack of an injury would lead you to argue he'd be better off). Regardless, I think it's fair for the Giants to conclude that he's probably not better than Blanco. As for being better than Huff: Yeah, definitely. No doubt better than Huff. But if those are the stakes we're talking about (25th man, last guy on the bench) then it's harder to get too excised about it and it's easier to appreciate that they wouldn't want all the disruption just for a 25th man. Basically: Cabrera would have made them a bit better and that's what I'd have done; but probably barely, and I'm willing to defer to the guys in the room on this one. (Sam Miller)

BP Roundtables

PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2016, Guillermo Mota threw 5,276 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2007 and 2012, including pitches thrown in the MLB Regular Season, the MLB Postseason and Spring Training. In 2012, he relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (93mph) and Change (85mph), also mixing in a Slider (84mph).